Apply for financingCattle feed planning
Estimate feed inventory from cattle count, live weight and daily dry matter intake. Adjust moisture and losses to see the as-fed supply and estimated cost; this is not a ration formulation.
Estimated as-fed supply, including losses
11.11US tons
Feed inventory estimate, not a balanced ration or veterinary advice. Intake, moisture, loss and price are assumptions; confirm them with a forage test and livestock nutritionist. A US short ton is 2,000 lb. Dengaro is a financing broker, a brand of Funding Routes LLC, not a lender; this page does not finance feed.
How it works
A cow's dry matter intake excludes water. As-fed weight includes it, so divide dry matter demand by the feed's dry matter fraction. Then divide by the fraction of supplied feed that is actually consumed. A 10% loss means 90% remains: divide by 0.90, rather than adding 10%. The price input is per US short ton of as-fed feed, not per ton of dry matter. Use the same moisture basis for the feed analysis and the supplier price. For multiple feeds, calculate each feed's assigned share of dry matter separately; do not assume every ingredient supplies the full daily requirement.
Formula
Daily dry matter per head = live weight × intake percent ÷ 100. Total dry matter = daily demand × head × days. As-fed pounds = total dry matter ÷ (dry matter percent ÷ 100) ÷ (1 − loss percent ÷ 100). US short tons = pounds ÷ 2,000. Estimated feed cost = as-fed tons × your estimated price per ton.
Example
At 2.5% of body weight, each animal consumes 30 lb of dry matter daily. The herd needs 18,000 lb of dry matter. At 90% dry matter and 10% loss of feed supplied, order an estimated 22,222.22 lb as fed, or 11.11 US short tons. At an illustrative $180 per short ton, the estimated feed cost is $2,000 before delivery, tax or handling.
Tips
The 2.5% intake default is a planning assumption, not a prescription. Intake changes with forage quality, animal size, lactation, growth and weather. Wet silage has a lower dry matter percentage than dry hay. Combine storage and feeding losses into one overall loss fraction; two successive 10% losses retain 81%, so the combined loss is 19%, not 20%.
Scope
This cattle feed calculator does not balance protein, energy, minerals or effective fiber and does not predict daily gain. Have a livestock nutritionist review the ration and transitions between feeds. Prices are estimates, not supplier quotes. Dengaro is a financing broker, a brand of Funding Routes LLC, not a lender; feed purchases are not offered for financing here.
Important questions
Dry matter is the feed after water is excluded. As-fed is what you weigh and buy, water included. For example, 30 lb of dry matter requires 33.33 lb of 90% dry matter hay before any losses. Enter 90, not 10, when the feed is 10% moisture.
Loss is defined here as a share of everything supplied. If 10% is lost, supplying 100 lb leaves 90 lb to eat. To deliver 100 lb, you therefore need 100 ÷ 0.90 = 111.11 lb. A 100% loss is invalid because no finite amount can meet demand.
Yes, as an inventory estimate using the measured dry matter content of the feed or complete ration. For mixed diets, use the dry-matter-weighted composition of the complete ration or estimate each ingredient's allocated demand separately. It is not a safe way to decide grain inclusion or replace nutritional advice.
No. It multiplies the estimated as-fed quantity by the price per 2,000 lb US short ton you enter. Delivery, taxes, storage, feeding labor and machinery are excluded. Feed cost is not sent to an application as a loan amount, and this page makes no approval or rate promises.